Protective container for books and the like



June 23, 1970 H. F. LARSEN 3,516,593

PROTECTIVE CONTAINER FOR BOQKS AND THE LIKE Filed March 14, 1968 4Sheets-Sheet 1 June 23, 1970 H. F. LARSEN 3,516,593

PROTECTIVE CONTAINER FOR BOOKS AND THE LIKE Filed March 14, 1968 4Sheets-Sheet June 23, 1970 LARsEN 3,516,593

PROTECTIVE CONTAINER FOR BOOKS AND THE LIKE Filed March 14, 1968 4Sheets-Sheet 5 .141 15f) 154. /6 .195 Kjz] [67 7 46a 1424 .1425 a; .f 4[Z7 {Z7 128 Z {29 V 7 v v [2 4 9/ June 23, 1970 H. F. LARSEN 3,516,593.

PROTECTIVE CONTAINER FOR BOOKS AND THE LIKE Filed March 14, 1968 .4Sheets-Sheet 4.

United States Patent 3,516,593 PROTECTIVE CONTAINER FOR BOOKS AND THELIKE Howard F. Larsen, Chicago, Ill., assignor to R. R.

Donnelley & Sons Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 14, 1968,Ser. No. 713,097 Int. Cl. B65d /22 U.S. Cl. 229-33 6 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cartons or containers thathave been used in the past to ship books and the like, and particularlyhard cover books, have not been entirely satisfactory for severalreasons. The rough handling that cartons receive in the mail iswell-known, and heretofore most cartons have provided inadequateprotection for the ends and corners of hard cover books, with the resultthat deformation of the ends and corners of the covers is a commonexperience. The most common solution to this problem is to use a heavierweight material to form the carton, but this increases the bulk andweight of the package to an extent that the postage required to ship thecarton is increased.

One advantageous solution that has been proposed in the past to improvethe protective characteristics of a shipping container withoutmaterially increasing its Weight is to provide single air cells atopposite ends of the container, which space the ends of a book inwardlyof the ends of the container, to minimize damage to the ends and cornersof the book that frequently result from jamming the end of thecontainer. While the air cell expedient has been recognized as asatisfactory solution to the problem of providing a lightweightprotective container, heretofore no one has provided a carton blankwhich readily lends itself to automatic fabrication into a containerhaving single air cells at opposite ends. Because of manufacturingdifficulties, the single air cell carton structure has not been widelyadopted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to shippingcontainers, or cartons, for hard cover books wherein protective doubleair cells are provided at each end of the carton to space the bookinwardly from the ends of the carton. The protective container of thepresent invention is formed from a novel flat, lightweight corrugatedboard blank, which includes a main panel having four spaced, parallellongitudinal fold lines dividing the main panel into transverselyadjacent and serially related outer flap, top wall, front wall, bottomwall, and inner flap sections. Identical air cell panels extendlongitudinally outwardly from both ends of the bottom wall section in aone book container and outwardly from the ends of both the top wall andbottom wall sections in a two book container; and each air cell panelincludes five spaced parallel transverse fold lines which divide it intothree serially related outer air cell forming sections, plus anintermediate section, a hinge section, and a holding flap outwardlythereof. The three last mentioned sections define an inner air cell.Means is provided for securing the holding flaps to the main panel, sothat double air cells which 3,516,593 Patented June 23, 1970 bridge thespace between the top wall and bottom wall of the container may beformed by swinging the air cell panels upwardly and inwardly about thehinge sections. Adhesive strips are provided at the ends of the mainpanel, so that when each air cell panel is folded about the fold lineseparating its second and third air cell forming sections, the holdingflap is positioned in face abutting engagement with and bonded to theadhesive strip at the end of the main panel. The positive securing ofthe air cell panels to the main panel allows plowing elements of acarton folding machine to plow the side panels upwardly and inwardlytoward one another about the hinge sections, so that the air cells maybe formed in a relatively simple manufacturing operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank fromwhich a protective container for a single hard cover book is formed;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the blank of FIG. 1 during anintermediate manufacturing step, with the side panels being folded overand secured to the main panel;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view, similar to FIG. 2, and illustratingthe blank in a further step of manufac ture, with the side panels havingbeen plowed over to form air cells;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, similar to FIGS. 2 and 3, and illustratingthe blank in a still further step of manufacture, wherein the innerfront Wall section of the main panel has been folded upwardly, and theouter front, top and back wall sections of the main panel have also beenfolded upwardly;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, similar to FIGS. 24, and illustrating afinished container;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken generally along line 66of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a flat blank from which a protective containerfor two hard cover books is formed;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the blank of FIG. 7 in an intermediatemanufacturing step, wherein the side panels have been folded over andsecured to the main panel;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view, similar to FIG. -8, and illustrating theblank during a further manufacturing step, wherein the side panels onthe bottom section of the main panel have been plowed upwardly to formair cells, while the side panels on the top section are in the processof being plowed upwardly;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view, similar to FIGS. 8 and 9, andillustrating the blank in still another manufacturing step, wherein theinner front wall section of the main panel has been folded upwardly, andthe outer front, top and back wall sections have also been foldedupwardly;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view, similar to FIGS. 8-10, and illustratingthe completed container for two hard cover books; and

FIG. 12 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along line 1212 ofFIG. 11.

While illustrative embodiments of the invention are shown in thedrawings it will be described in detail herein, the invention issusceptible of embodiment in many different forms, and it should beunderstood that the present disclosure is to be considered as anexemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intendedto limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, and in particular to FIGS. 1and 5, the protective carton for a single hard cover book is indicatedin its entirety at 20 in FIG. 5, and is formed from a blank indicated inits entirety at 21 in FIG. 1. Blank 21 is preferably die cut from asheet of light weight laminated material, including two outer plies ofpaperboard bonded to a corrugated paperboard core, and blank 21 includesa generally rectangularly shaped main panel 22. Panel 22 includes aplurality of parallel longitudinal fold lines 23-26, which divide thepanel 22 into serially related sections including, an outer flap section27, a top Wall section 28, a front wall section 29, a bottom wallsection 30, and an inner flap section 31. As is evident from FIG. 1,each of sections 27-31 is of substantially the same length, withsections 27, 29 and 31 being of substantially the same size, and withsections 28 and also being substantially of the same size. Flaps 32 and33 are hingedly connected to opposite sides of top section 28 attransverse fold lines 32b and 33b, respectively; and flaps 27, 32 and 33are provided with sealing means at 27a, 32a and 33a, respectively, inthe form of pressure sensitive adhesive strips.

Generally rectangularly shaped air cell panels 34 extend outwardly fromopposite ends of the bottom wall section 30 of main panel 22 attransverse fold lines 34a; and each air cell panel 34 includes aplurality of parallel transverse fold lines 35-39 which divide the aircell panels into serially related sections including a first air cellforming section 40, a second air cell forming section 41, a third aircell forming section 42, an intermediate section 43, a hinge section 44,and a holdin flap 45. As best seen in FIG. 6, sections and 42 of aircell panels 34 are of substantially the same width. Intermediatesections 43 may be as wide as or somewhat wider than sections 41.Holding flaps are substantially narrower than sections 40-43, and hingesections 44 are slightly narrower than holding flaps 45. The total widthof the sections 42, 43 and 44 exceeds the total width of sections 41 and40. Recesses 46 are provided in opposite ends of the air cell panels 34,and to this end, it will be noted from FIG. 1 that sections 42 aresomewhat shorter than sections 40, 41 and 43-45, while the corners ofsections 41 and 43 adjacent sections 42 are cut out, as at 47.

The present invention contemplates that the container 20 will beassembled automatically by placing a blank 22 on a conveyor with the aircell panels at the sides of the conveyor, and passing the blank 22 pasta series of manipulative devices which form the container in accordancewith the steps described below. The book to be packaged is alsopreferably transported to the blank by a suitable conveyor, andautomatically inserted in a partially assembled blank, as will hereafterappear.

Means are provided for securing the holding flaps 45 of air cell panels34 to the main panel 22, and illustratively this means may take the formof a strip of pressure sensitive adhesive adjacent opposite edges of thebottom wall section 30 of the main panel 22. To assemble the container20, the air cell panels 34 are folded over upon themselves about foldline 36 (FIG. 2) by a panel folding and inverting means, and the holdingflaps 45 of the side panels are pressed into intimate engagement withthe pressure sensitive adhesive strips 48 to fixedly secure the holdingflaps to the bottom section 30 of the main panel 22. The blank 22 isthen transported by its conveyor in the direction of arrow 49 in FIG. 3past a suitable plowing device, which pivots the folded air cell panels34 upwardly and inwardly about hinge sections 44 to form open, generallyrectangularly shaped outer air cells 50. Fold lines 38 and 39 atopposite sides of the hinge sections 44 are preferably scored completelythrough the material at a plurality of longitudinally spaced positions51, to facilitate formation of the outer air cells 50. As each panel 34is folded along the lines 38 and 39, the opposed surfaces thereof aredisengaged and brought into spaced-apart relationships, the panel beingfolded along the line 37 due to the greater total width of the sections44, 43 and 42 as compared to the total width of the sections 41 and 40.When the air cells have been formed, it will be noted from FIG. 6 thatthe sections 40 and 42 are positioned in spaced parallel relationshipwith one another, with section 41 disposed perpendicular to sections 40and 42, and section 43 disposed at an angle with respect to sections 40and 42.

Hinge sections 44 of each air cell panel are positioned upright,immediately inwardly of sections 40. Sections 43, 44 and 45 togetherdefine an inner air cell 51.

After the air cells 50 and 51 have been formed, a book B, shown inbroken lines in FIG. 3, is inserted on the bottom wall section 30 of themain panel 22 between air cells 50 and 51, with the backbone of the bookpreferably facing inner flap 31. After the book has been inserted, mainpanel inner flap 31 is folded upwardly againts the backbone of the book,and main panel sections 27-29 are folded upwardly about fold line 25 tothe position of FIG. 4 to place the front wall 29 of the main panelagainst the front of the book. Panel wall sections 27 and 28 are thenfolded downwardly about fold line 24, with the edges of top wall section28 supported upon the upper surfaces 41 of the air cells 50. Flaps 27,32 and 33 are then folded downwardly about fold lines 23, 32b and 330,respectively, and the pressure sensitive adhesive on flaps 32 and 33 ispressed into intimate sealing engagement with the outer surfaces 40 ofthe air cells 50, while the pressure sensitive adhesive on flap 27 ispressed into intimate sealing engagement with flap 31 to complete thecontainer 20.

It will be appreciated that during shipment, the air cells 50 and 51 atopposite ends of the container 20 provide a substantial degree ofprotection for the ends and corners of the book. When it is desired toopen the container 20, the flaps 27, 32 and 33 are lifted upwardly tobreak their respective seals, and the flap 31 is folded downwardly tothe position of FIG. 3. It will be appreciated that the corners of thebook are readily accessible at recesses 46 so that the book can beeasily removed.

Referring now to the embodiment of FIGS. 7-12, a protective containerfor two books is illustrated therein which is substantially similar tothe protective container illustrated in FIGS. 1-6, so that similarreference numerals have been used to designate corresponding elements,with the reference numerals in the embodiment of FIGS. 7-12 beingincreased by the sum 100. With reference to FIG. 7, it will be notedthat the blank 121 includes a main panel portion 122 including aplurality of parallel longitudinal fold lines 123-126 that divide themain panel 122 into an outer flap section 127 having an adhesive 127athereon, a top wall section 128, a back wall section 129, a bottom wallsection 130, and an inner flap section 131. Sections 127, 129 and 131are substantially twice as wide as their counterparts in the embodimentof FIGS. 1-6, to accommodate the thickness of two books, as willhereinafter appear. Blank 122 includes air cell panels 134 connected attransverse fold lines 134a to opposite edges of both the top wallsection 128 of main panel 122 and bottom wall section of the main panel.Each air cell panel 134 includes a plurality of parallel transverse foldlines 135-139, which divide the air cell panels 134 into seriallyrelated outer air cell forming sections -142, intermediate sections 143,hinge sections 144, and holding flaps 145. As with the embodiment ofFIGS. 1-6, a strip of pressure sensitive adhesive 148 is provided atopposite sides of the bottom wall section 130 of main panel 122 forsecuring the holding flaps of the air cell panels 134 on the bottom wallsection 130 against movement during the air cell plowing operation. Asis evident from FIG. 7, additional strips 148a are provided at oppositesides of top wall section 128 for similar cooperative action with theholding flaps 145 of the air cell panels connected to the top wallsection 128. As can be seen in FIG. 7, connecting strips 152 extendbetween the holding flaps 145 of the spaced air cell panels 134, andfurther adhesive strips 148!) are provided at opposite sides of backwall section 129, with connecting strips 152 being secured to adhesivestrips 14812, when the air cell panels 134 are folded about fold lines134a to the position illustrated in FIG. 8.

Tabs 153 and 154 are hingedly connected to opposite ends of outer flap127 by transverse fold lines 155 and 156, respectively, and a pressuresensitive adhesive is applied to tabs 153 and 154 at areas 157 and 158,respectively. Further taps 159 and 160 extend outwardly from oppositesides of back wall section 129, and are connected thereto by transversefold lines 161 and 1-62. Pressure sensitive adhesive is provided on tab159 at areas 163, and on tab 160 at areas 164, for a purpose tohereafter appear.

The container illustrated in FIGS. 7-12 is assembled in substantiallythe same manner as the container illustrated in FIGS. l6, with thesequential steps being illus-, trated in FIGS. 8-10. In FIG. 9, the aircells 150 and 151 at opposite sides of top wall section 128 areillustrated in the process of being folded about hinge sections 144.After the books B and B have been positioned on the bottom wall section130, preferably with the backbones of the books facing in oppositedirections, the inner flap 131 is folded upwardly, so as to be disposedin front of the books on bottom wall section 130. The main panel 122 isthen folded about fold line 124 to dispose the rear wall section 129behind the books, and the main panel 122 is then folded about fold line124 to position the air cells on top wall section 128 in back to backrelationship with the air cells 150 on bottom wall section 130. Thisrelationship can be best seen in FIG. 12, and as illustrated therein,the sections 141 of the side panels 134 are positioned in face abuttingengagement with one another. If it is desired to eliminate closure flaps153, 154, 159, and 160, a suitable pressure sensitive adhesive may beprovided on sections 141, sothat the air cells can be secured directlyto one another. In the embodiment where flaps 153, 154, 159 and 160' areprovided; fold lines 155, 156, 161 and 162 are spaced slightly outwardlyof fold lines 134a, so that the flaps will nest properly outside of theair cells. To complete the container 120 in the embodiment whereinclosure flaps are provided, flaps 153 and 154 are folded forwardly aboutfold lines 155 and 156, respectively while closure flaps 159 and 160 arefolded rearwardly about fold lines 161 and 162 respectively. The closureflaps are then pressed against the outer surfaces 140 of the air cells,so that the pressure sensitive adhesive therein will seal the container.

In order to provide for ready access to the container 120, the outerflaps 127 of the main panel 122 is provided with pairs of spaced scores166 adjacent opposite sides thereof, and a tear ribbon 167 is securedacross the width of the outer front section 127 between each pair ofscores 166. To facilitate fabrication of the blank 121, the ribbons 167may extend completely across the length of the blank, as is illustratedin FIG. 7. The ribbon is scored at 168 adjacent fold line 123, so thatthe only portion of the main panel that will be removed is the portionof the flap to which ribbon 167 is secured, and the small portion of thetop wall panel between fold line '123 and score 168.

The embodiments of the invention in which an inclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A fiat blank of sheet material for forming a protective container forone or more books comprising: a main panel divided by spaced parallelfold lines into relatively wide top and bottom container wall sectionsand relatively narrow front and rear container wall sections extendingalong the sides of one of said wide container wall sections, said lbankfurther comprising air cell panels extending from opposite ends of atleast one of said wide container wall sections, said air cell panelsbeing divided by spaced transverse parallel fold lines into proximalfirst air cell forming sections and distal second air cell formingsections including a terminal flap attached to the inside of one widewall section, said air cell sections being swingable at the fold lineswhere said air cell sections are attached to said one wide wall sectionfor forming superposed double air cells defining container end walls atthe ends of said wide wall sections.

2. A blank according to claim 1 in which said air cell panels extendfrom both ends of both of said wide container wall sections.

3. A blank according to claim 1 in which said terminal flap is attachedto said one wide wall section adjacently to the end of said one widewall section whereby said two air cells will be formed above said flap.

4. A blank according to claim 3 in which the air cell section formingthe bottom of said first air cell also forms the roof of said second aircell.

5. A blank according to claim 4 in which said bottom and roof formingair cell section is wider than the air cell section defining the roof ofsaid first air cell and extends at an angle thereto.

6. A protective container for books and the like comprising: arelatively large rectangular bottom wall sur rounded by a front wall anda rear wall which have coplanar upper edges, and first and second endwalls, each of said end walls including air cell means comprising afirst air cell having parallel upright outer and inner walls connectedby a top wall which is parallel to the bottom wall and coplanar with theupper edges of the front and rear walls, and a second air wholly withinsaid first air cell, said second air cell including an inclined wall connecting the inner and outer walls of the first air cell, an upright walladhered to the outer wall of the first air cell, and a bottom ta b lyingon the container bottom wall within the first air cell; and a closurehinged along the upper edge of the rear wall, said closure havingmarginal flaps adapted to lie flat against the front wall and the outerair cell walls.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,603,405 7/ 1952 Frankenstein.

2,860,823 11/ 8 Frankenstein.

3,110,435 11/1963 Layne 229-40 3,124,293 3/ 1964 Transport.

3,250,455 5/ 1966 Plunkett 229-40 X-R 3,261,537 7/ 1966 Kistner 229-403,368,735 2/1968 Levi 229-40 DAVIS T. MOORHEAD, Primary Examiner U .3.Cl. X.R.

